February 14th 2001
by cein
Summary: A Valentines day drama
1. February 14th 2001 - part 1

Thanks to Sam for Beta reading this, thanks also to Monica and Sarah for their suggestions re the title.  
  
February 14th 2001  
  
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We see a fuzzy background on a TV screen. After a few seconds a picture comes up of a dark haired, olive complexioned young man in his late twenties or early thirties, sprawled in an armchair.  
  
"Is this thing working?" he says to a person off screen. "What? Oh yeah, right." Facing the camera, he says, "Hi, my name is Dave, and I'm a doctor...so you can call me Dr Dave." He smirks at a person off-screen. "Man, this sounds so corny."  
  
We hear an inaudible voice. "Okay, okay," says Dave. "I'll be serious."  
  
Putting on a relatively serious expression, he starts again. "I guess you want to know how it all started, huh? Truth is...I'm not really sure. I mean, everyone had been on edge the whole day. After what had happened the last Valentines day...well, we were all a little uneasy. But it was just an ordinary day. The usual mix of traumas and walking wounded. Nothing strange. I'd been treating this kid...can't have been more than fifteen. He...he'd been shot in a drive-by shooting. Word was, he'd been in a gang. Anyway, I had the job of explaining to his brother that he probably wasn't gonna make it through the surgery. It was pretty quite at that stage so I brought him into an exam room. Anyway, I was telling him this and he was getting kinda freaked out...and he's yelling and screaming at me, and I'm trying to calm him down, and the next thing, he's pulled out a freaking gun."  
  
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The picture changes to a red haired woman, probably late thirties or early forties. Sitting primly in the chair, she says to the camera, "Hello, my name is Kerry, and I'm Chief of Emergency Medicine at County General hospital."  
  
We hear the sound of suppressed laughter and Kerry glares at someone off-screen, making a 'cut-throat' motion with her hand.   
  
"I was having a fairly ordinary day," she says. "Well, as ordinary as you get in one of the busiest Emergency Rooms in Illinois. I was trying to find Dr Mal...Dave, to assist with an incoming patient. One of the nurses told me that he was talking to the brother of a patient in an exam room. I wasn't sure whether or not to disturb him or not, but the other residents were all busy, so I decided to check discreetly whether he had finished with the him."  
  
Kerry flushes slightly as she continues, "Of course, I was wondering if he had finished, and was just trying to have a quick nap."  
  
A voice says from off-screen. "I can't believe you thought that." But we can hear that he sounds amused rather than offended.   
  
Kerry makes a face before continuing. "So I decided that I'd listen in on the conversation and perhaps try to discreetly signal to Dave that he was needed. There was a screen just inside the door, so I couldn't see them at first. But the brother was yelling so loudly that they couldn't hear me either. I...I looked round the screen, and I saw the gun...pointing straight at Dave."  
  
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Dave shifts uneasily in the chair. "So I'm looking at this gun, and a part of me is thinking, no way man...this can't be happening...that can't be a real gun. Another part of me is thinking, shit, this is it...he's gonna shoot me. I couldn't believe it. I mean it seemed like such a dumb way to go...shot by someone I didn't even know...had hardly spoken to."   
  
He smiles wryly, "I'd sort of always hoped that if I did get shot, it'd be at the age of ninety and a jealous husband would have pulled the trigger...but this...man...it seemed so...so unreal. So I'm standing there and I'm trying to think, what the fu...hell do I do? Do I try and grab the gun? Talk him down? Hope he'll suddenly drop dead on the spot? I was just sort of frozen to the spot. And all I could see was the gun...pointing straight at my chest. Shit, even a blind arthritic grandmother wouldn't have been able to miss me."  
  
He laughs, but we can tell that it's forced. "So I try and look away from the gun...see if there's anything I can grab...maybe throw at him...distract him...and I glance over at the screen...and I see a shadow there...and I'm thinking, thank God...someone's gonna rescue me...and I look down to the floor to see if I can figure out who it is...you know see if it's someone who'll be able to help...and that's when I saw the crutch, and I knew it was the Chief. And I'm thinking, no way...she's never gonna be able to take him...and if she goes for help, he'll probably hear her and shoot me...or worse...he'll shoot her ...and I try to look away, so that he won't notice what I'm staring at...and I try to reason with him so he won't panic and just pull the trigger. But he just gets madder and madder and he cocks the gun."  
  
Dave is silent for a few seconds. "I know it only made a small sound...but it was the loudest thing I've ever heard...I knew that he was gonna pull the trigger and I'd probably be dead before I hit the floor."  
  
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Kerry bites her lip as she says, "I could see that Dave wasn't having any luck in calming the man down. And when he pointed the gun at him again...it was like time had slowed down...I could see his hand tense on the trigger...I could hear the gun being cocked...and all I could think of was the very first thing I'd been told when learning to shoot. 'Never point a gun at anything unless you want to destroy it'. I didn't stop to think...I just swung with my crutch, hoping to knock the gun away before he fired...or at least hoping to deflect his aim so that he'd hit the floor or something...I heard a crack...I heard a crack as I hit him...but he still had the gun in his hand...so I hit him again...and again until he was on the ground..." Kerry stops at this point and buries her head in her hands.  
  
The off-screen voice asks gently, "D'you want me to stop the tape?"  
  
Kerry rubs her eyes, "No...no, I'm fine. Anyway..." We can see her visibly pull herself together, before she continues. "I was so angry at him...I kept thinking, how dare he come into my ER...threaten my staff. I don't know what I would have done if Dave hadn't called my name."  
  
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Dave says, "So I'm standing there, wondering if I dare try and jump him...and I can see his arm muscles tense like he's gonna pull the trigger...and I can't move... It's like a bad dream where you're stuck in molasses or something. I mean, I've heard of people saying they were 'rooted to the spot', and now I know what they meant. And I'm thinking, this is it...I'm going to die...and the next thing I see the Chief lashing out with her crutch...and there's a bang...and I still can't move. Kerry's there, beating the crap out of this guy...and I can't do a thing to help her. Finally I manage to take a step," he pauses before continuing. "And that's when I realized that I'd been shot."  
  
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To be continued  
  



	2. February 14th 2001 - part 2

Dave & Kerry  
  
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Kerry smiles wryly. "I can only imagine what I looked like...screaming at this man...beating him with my crutch. Then I heard Dave...calling me." Her smile changes to a more wistful one. "He didn't say 'Chief' or 'Dr Weaver'...he just said 'Kerry?' in a small voice. I looked over at him...he was just standing there. And...and I didn't think anything was wrong...and I was wondering why he was just standing there...not doing anything to help...and then I saw the blood. It didn't seem like much...just a trickle...you could hardly see it against his jeans...at least from the front...the point of entry. And as I watched, Dave just sort of 'folded up' and slid to the ground...and I could see the blood pooling around him."  
  
Kerry takes a deep breath before continuing, "That's when I screamed for help. A part of me was wondering why nobody had come to check out the shot...but only a few seconds had passed...even though it felt like forever."  
  
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"So one minute I'm standing there trying to move forward and help the Chief...but my legs won't work. It's like one of those bad dreams where you're trying to run...but you can't. So I look down...and there's a hole - just a small one - in my jeans...right about here." Dave points to a spot on his left leg, midway down the front of his thigh.  
  
"And I'm thinking, 'no way man'...I can't have been shot...I would have felt something...and then I notice the blood...and you know all those cartoons where the cat gets his tail chopped off or set on fire and he doesn't realize it until he sees it? Well it was sort of like that...I mean the pain didn't really hit me until I saw the blood.  
  
Next thing I know, I'm sitting on the ground, looking at the blood pouring out...and I know I should be doing something...I know I should be applying pressure...trying to stop the bleeding...but all I can do is look at it...watch as my life drains away...and then I see a pair of hands...and they're on my leg and applying pressure in the right place...and I look up...and it's Kerry...and she looks at me...and I just know that I'm gonna be all right...I know that the Chief won't let me die."  
  
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"Dave was just sitting there, staring at his leg. I did my best to try and control the bleeding, but all I had were my hands. I was yelling at him, telling him to stay with me...not to let go...and he was looking at me with a sort of a dazed expression. I guess he was in shock...after all, it's not every day that some lunatic tries to kill you..."  
  
Kerry shakes her head, "Finally, after what seemed like hours, I heard people coming to help...I said to Dave...I told him he was going to be all right...that I wouldn't let him die...and all I could think...all I could think about was last year...walking into the room and seeing Carter...and Lucy." She looks away for a few seconds before turning back to the camera.  
  
"I suppose I should explain...Lucy and Carter...were a med student and a resident in my ER. A year earlier, they'd been attacked by a patient...stabbed. Carter survived, Lucy didn't. I could hardly believe that it had happened again...and on Valentine's Day again." She sighs. "Weird huh?"  
  
"Anyway," she says, visibly composing herself. "The next few minutes I was running on autopilot, ordering people to help me get Dave onto a backboard and into Trauma one. Cleo...Dr Finch - one of the residents - I told her to take care of the other man...I told her to put him in four point restraints if he had to, but I didn't want him getting loose. She...she said, that she couldn't do that because I'd broken his arm. So I said to put him in three point restraints." Kerry laughs as she says, "I know it sounds funny now, but at the time I was serious. And the look on Cleo's face..." She sighs at the memory.   
  
"But no one was smiling then...except Dave. I had my hand on his thigh, you know, to try and staunch the blood and I looked at his face and he was smirking slightly and looking at where my hands were, and I didn't know why he was smiling..."   
  
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"It's crazy, I know," Dave says with a grin, "But I could see Kerry's hands on me, and it suddenly occurred to me, that she was almost touching my...you know..." He indicates his crotch. "And it just seemed so funny at the time."  
  
"Don't really remember much of the next few minutes," says Dave with a wry smile. "I remember cursing at Malik as he was lifting me onto the backboard...and I remember hearing Kerry yell at someone...but it all sort of went a bit blurry and the next thing I remember clearly is staring at the ceiling of Trauma one...and I hear Kerry saying to cut it off...and I'm like, they gotta be kidding...it was only a flesh wound. So I try to sit up and tell them no way are they gonna amputate." He smiles ruefully. "Course they were talking about my jeans...Kerry had told Lydia to cut them off me...and I'm relaxing a bit until I see Lydia brandishing these scissors...and man they look massive...and I'm freaking out cause they look so big...and I'm thinking what if her hand slips when she gets...you know...up near the important bits."  
  
We hear a partially suppressed snort of laughter from behind the camera. Dave sticks his tongue out at the sound before continuing.  
  
"And I'm trying to tell them not to cut my jeans off and Kerry's telling me to 'lie down and shut up dammit'. And I'm starting to realize how serious things are getting...I can see Chuny bringing in a whole armful of units of blood...and I realize it's gonna be A positive...my type...and I close my eyes thinking that things can't get much worse...and then I realize they can...cause I hear Kerry saying to put in a foley."  
  
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Kerry speaks as if reciting from a textbook; "A foley catheter is standard procedure when dealing with a trauma patient...especially one that is most likely going to require surgery. I knew this...I knew it had to be done...but it didn't make it any easier to order it..."  
  
"It wasn't the first time I've heard a man scream as a foley was inserted...and it wasn't the last...but somehow...somehow it was the worst. I don't know if was because up to that point...up till then, Dave had been holding up pretty well. I mean, I knew he was in pain...he had to be with the amount of damage that the bullet had done...but up till then he had been managing to control it...when the foley went in...I couldn't look at him...I saw him writhing in pain...and of course the movement didn't help his leg...and I screamed at Chuny to find out what the hell was keeping the surgeons...and when I looked at Dave again...he was looking up at me...and I could see the pain in his eyes... ...and I couldn't look at him...because I knew that I was responsible for some of it...and I felt his hand in mine...and when I looked at him he said... 'You okay Chief?'...and I couldn't believe it. Here he was, in agony from a serious injury...and he's asking me if I'm okay..." We can see Kerry's eyes filling with tears. Looking away she gestures at the camera. "Shut...shut that thing off...please..."  
  
The screen fades to black.  
  
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Dave is looking serious for a change as he speaks to the camera. "I sort of lost it when the foley went in," he says. "I mean, I know the bullet wound was hurting...but I'd sort of managed to distance myself from it...told myself it wasn't really happening...and it was working...but then, the pain of the catheter." He shudders visibly. "That sort of brought it all home. I knew that I wouldn't be getting one of those if it wasn't serious...I...I'm not ashamed to admit that I screamed...and then I couldn't control the pain...and I was losing it totally...and then I saw Kerry standing there...and she looked so...so upset...but yet she was holding herself together...and I knew I had to be strong...for her sake..."  
  
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Time has obviously passed since Kerry's last clip as she is wearing a different top and is a lot more composed.  
  
"Where were we?" she asks, looking off camera. We hear the sound of a voice, but can't make out what it's saying. "Oh right," says Kerry, "The trauma room."  
  
Facing the camera, she says, "We'd managed to get Dave stabilized...he was barely conscious, but his vital signs were good. I thought that we'd done it...that maybe, just maybe things were going to be all right."  
  
"I watched as he was pushed into the elevator. I watched, as the doors closed behind him and all I could think was that I might never see him again. I...I knew that he stood a good chance of coming through this...after all, if you're going to get shot, what better place than in an ER...in front of the Chief of Emergency Medicine..." There is a trace of bitterness in her voice, but it's gone when she speaks again.  
  
"I just felt so responsible...after all, if I hadn't jumped in like that without thinking of the consequences...I should have called security...that's what we pay them for...but no, I just had to play the hero...but Dave was the one who paid the price.  
  
I kept thinking that maybe if I hadn't hit him just then...he wouldn't have pulled the trigger...and Dave wouldn't be facing emergency surgery."  
  
We hear Dave's voice saying, "Kerry, if you hadn't been there, I would've been a GSW to the chest at close range. You know the survival rates for that are a hell of a lot worse than for what happened to me." We can tell by the sound of his voice that this is a conversation they've had before.  
  
Kerry sighs and says, "I know that now...but back then...back then, I wasn't exactly thinking clearly...especially after Romano couldn't give me any guarantee that you'd keep your leg...or even if you'd survive the operation."  
  
There is silence from both of them, as the screen fades to black.  
  
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To be continued  
  
  
  
  



	3. February 14th 2001 - part 3

  
Part 3  
  
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Kerry sighs as she continues. "The rest of my shift...I don't know how I got through it without killing any of my patients. If we hadn't been so short staffed..." Her voice trails off, as she appears lost in thought. Finally she continues, "We were already short staffed before the shooting. Carter...well, Carter hadn't wanted to work that day...I couldn't really blame him...Dr Greene had called in sick...a bad reaction to his previous days treatment and Dr Chen was still on maternity leave. I did my best to keep my mind on the job...but it wasn't easy when my thoughts were a few floors above the ER."  
  
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"I don't remember anything about the operation," says Dave. "Well that's hardly surprising," he grins. "Last thing I remember is Dr Romano coming into pre-op. He comes over to me and says 'Malatucci, right?'. And I'm saying no...it's Malucci...and he smirks and says, 'just checking'. Then he tells me the anesthetist is nearly ready for me...and he says 'you might feel a little prick' and I'm trying to say something like 'I bet you say that to all the girls' but my tongue feels like it's filled with lead and all I can do is close my eyes."  
  
Dave shifts uncomfortably in his chair. "I was allowed see my charts afterwards," he says. "Or rather, I annoyed the nurses in ICU until they showed it to me. It...it wasn't easy reading. Apparently I'd needed four units of blood before they'd even started cutting...and...and I'd crashed midway through the op." He looks away from the camera and we can see that he is visibly shaken by his tale.   
  
"It...it was touch and go for a while," he says when he finally looks back at the camera. "I...I nearly didn't make it." He swallows hard. "Sort of freaky knowing that you were technically dead...even just for a few seconds..."  
  
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"When the word came down that Dave was out of surgery," Kerry says, "I headed straight upstairs."  
  
"My shift was nearly over," she says in an apparent effort at justification, whether to herself or to the camera, it is unclear. "And the ER wasn't that busy...so I told Luka to take over while I checked on Dave. I told myself it was my duty as his boss to see for myself how he was doing...but I knew even then that it was more than that."  
  
She sighs as she continues. "He was in the ICU by the time I got upstairs. Wired up to all the usual machines...and looking so pale...so fragile...he didn't look like my 'Dr Dave' anymore.  
  
Dr Romano told me that although he had come through the operation successfully, there was still a risk of infection, so he wasn't totally out of the woods. I hardly heard him as he explained about the possibility that Dave would never regain the full use of his leg...all I could see was the slight rise and fall of Dave's chest...the only sign that he was still alive...  
  
I could see the surprise on Robert's face when I told him that I'd be staying with Dave...at least until he woke up. He looked as if he was about to make some unpleasant comment about it...but for some reason he refrained. Not that it would have made any difference...I was staying there...for however long it took for Dave to wake up."  
  
Kerry smiles wryly, "Hospital chairs aren't the most comfortable pieces of furniture, but it's surprising how many people can sleep in them...of course the fact that I was drained...both physically and emotionally helped a bit. I don't know how long I slept...but I was woken by the sound of Dave's heart monitor bleeping the sound of a flatline...and I tell you, my heart nearly stopped as well."  
  
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"Like I said, I don't remember the OR, or being in recovery...the next clear thing I remember is waking up in the ICU. I remember staring at the ceiling and wondering why I was there...and I saw the heart monitor leads on my chest...and for some reason, I decided that they were tickling me...and I didn't want them...so I pulled at them until they came off. Of course that's when all hell broke loose cause everyone thought that I'd crashed again." He smiles wryly. "Don't think they were too impressed when they discovered it was just me screwing with the leads. I thought it was funny...that is until I saw the expression on Kerry's face." His face falls slightly.   
  
"She...she had tears in her eyes," he says softly. "Kerry Weaver, the Chief of Emergency Medicine...reputed to be as tough as old boots and as hard as nails...was crying...crying over me."  
  
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"The crash team was at Dave's bedside before I realized what was going on," says Kerry. "I couldn't move...all I could do was watch as they crowded round the bed...and they weren't doing anything...and I wanted to scream at them to do something...to charge the paddles and shock him...to save him...  
  
Of course he didn't need saving...it...it took a few seconds for them to realize that he had just pulled off the leads...that he wasn't dying...they weren't too happy," she says wryly. "Anyway, they packed away the crash cart and replaced the leads...and then they left us alone...and I said the first thing that came into my head."  
  
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"She said to me," says Dave with a half smile on his face, "She said 'Don't you ever scare me like that again, Dave'. I must have been still pretty out of it...cause it took me a few seconds to realize that she'd called me 'Dave' instead of 'Malucci'. Think that was the first time I'd ever heard her do that...but it wasn't the last." He smiles affectionately at the camera...or perhaps the person behind it. "Anyway, she was standing there, all upset...and I suddenly remembered what had happened...and I looked at my leg...and I was half expecting just to see an empty space...and Kerry saw me looking and she said...she said I was going to be fine...that she was going to take care of me...and...and I know I sound like a wuss...but it just all sort of hit me...how near a miss I'd had...and I just started crying..." Dave looks away embarrassed.   
  
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"He was looking at his leg like he hadn't expected to see it there," says Kerry. "And then he looked at me...like a frightened child...I told him everything was going to be all right.  
  
Poor Dave...he'd been through such a lot...I guess it all caught up with him...and he broke down in my arms. I held him...and I let him cry until he'd exhausted his tears...and then I held him until he fell asleep. I made him comfortable...and then, just before I left...I kissed him on the forehead...I don't know why...but it just seemed right at the time...and his eyes flickered open...and he said...he said..."  
  
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"I said, 'I love you' to her," says Dave. "I...I don't know why I picked that particular time to say it...I mean it wasn't as if it was something I'd just realized...I knew from the first day I'd met Kerry that she was something special...maybe a part of me figured that I could always blame it on the drugs and the anesthetic...you know, if she was offended or shocked or anything...but she wasn't."  
  
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"I just smiled at him," says Kerry, smiling now as well. "And I brushed back the hair from his face...and I said something like, 'I know'...and then I kissed him again...but on the lips this time...and it just felt so natural...so right...like something I should have done a long time ago."  
  
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"When she kissed me the second time," says Dave, a half smile on his face as he remembers. "I could hardly believe it...for a minute I was sure I was dreaming...but then I knew that it wasn't a dream. And I reached up and pushed the hair back out of her face...and I smiled at her...and she was smiling at me...and I just knew that she was the one...the one I'd been looking for all my life."  
  
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Kerry smiles, "I suppose that technically it wasn't 'love at first sight'...after all, we'd known each other for over a year...but somehow...somehow it was as if the prospect of losing him had made Dave had made me see him for the first time."  
  
"So that's it," she says to the camera. "The story of our first kiss."  
  
"But not the last," says Dave as he enters the picture. We can see that he's favoring his left leg as he limps over to Kerry. Putting his arms around her, he kisses her again. "Definitely not the last," he repeats, before flashing a cheeky grin at the screen. He points a remote control at it and the screen goes blank.  
  
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We see a hand pressing the eject button on a video player and Dave - looking several years older than he did on the screen - takes the tape out. On it is written 'February, 14th 2001 - the first kiss'. He replaces it on a shelf, which is filled with other tapes with varying dates, and titles, which include, 'The Proposal', 'The Wedding', and 'The Birth 1 & 2', before returning to sit beside Kerry on a couch.  
  
"You realize," he says, as she snuggles up to him. "You realize that the date should actually be February 15th. I mean it was well after midnight when I came to." He grins an evil grin as Kerry swats him gently.  
  
"I'm just wondering if our children will ever want to watch them," says Kerry thoughtfully.  
  
Dave appears to consider this for a moment, "Nah," he says, grinning. "They'll probably think the idea of their parents being romantic is way too gross...but I'm glad we did it."  
  
"So am I," says Kerry, sighing as she relaxes in Dave's arms. "So am I."  
  
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The End  
  



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